Croton Oil

In Latin America, found primarily in second growth forests, species of
Croton are used for all kinds of stuff. I don't have a reference for C.
tiglium, but I do know that C. lechleri is a tree that has potent
antifungal/antiviral properties. A drop of the sap (reddish-bronze) is
put on the skin and rubbed...it foams into a lather and seems to do the
trick on infamous "jungle rot". It is also a common ingredient in soaps
for such a purpose.
Other species, C. persicaria have had morphine-like alkaloids (Tiwari,
1981),; Schultes and Raffauf found that the Witoto Indians of Columbia
use the leaves of C. glabellus for eczema-like symptoms...
All kinds of stuff...but I don't know anything about C. tiglium or if its
sap will promote tumor growth.
Chris Heider
On 2 Dec 1995, DImagin wrote:
> When I was working as a cell biologist, we would use phorbol esters as
> tumor promoters. I gather that the phorbol esters were originally
> isolated from croton oil, pressed from the seeds of croton tiglium. Can
> anyone tell me more about these? I have occasionally seen the latter
> offered for sale - they are attractive plants with copper and gold
> dagger-shaped leaves. How dangerous are they? Do the leaves or sap of
> the plant have tumor promoter activity as well?
>> Thanks,
>> Bruce Hubbard
>>